The Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates (later the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies) was a
workers' council
A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...
, or
soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
, in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in 1905.
Origins
The Soviet had its origins in the aftermath of
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday may refer to:
Historical events Canada
* Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
* Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...
, when
Nicholas II ordered that the workers should elect delegates to present their grievances to a government commission. The idea of a soviet as an organ to coordinate workers' strike activities arose during the January–February 1905 meetings of workers at the apartment of
Volin
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum (russian: Все́волод Миха́йлович Эйхенба́ум; 11 August 188218 September 1945), commonly known by his psuedonym Volin (russian: Во́лин), was a Russian anarchist intellectual. H ...
, a member of the
Socialist Revolutionary Party (later a famous
anarchist). However, its activities were quickly ceased due to governmental repression.
[Voline, ''Unknown Revolution'']
Chapter 2: The Birth of the "Soviets"
/ref>
When a general strike broke out in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in October 1905, starting in the capital's printing works but soon spreading to other sectors and other parts of the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, the striking printers decided to form a body with workers' delegates from fifty printing works. The first meeting of the Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
, held on , was attended only by delegates from the capital's Nevsky District. The activity of the Mensheviks
The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.
The factions em ...
succeeded in attracting delegates from other districts of the city. The body soon gained great authority over the populace, as it was the first elected organisation of the working class, hitherto without voting rights
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
. The Soviet, which met at the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology
Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University) (russian: Санкт-Петербургский Технологический Институт (Технический Университет)) was founded in 1828. It is o ...
, soon had delegates representing some 200,000 people. The number of delegates first grew to 400 and then to 560. A new publication, ''Izvestia
''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes i ...
'', was also created by the Soviet. Trotsky describes the Soviet's growth between October and the end of November as follows:
The new body was not well received by the Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
, who at first perceived it as a competitor to their political party. On the contrary, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries
The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...
immediately sent representatives to the Soviet. On , the executive presidency of the Soviet was elected: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries each sent three representatives. The leading Menshevik representative - despite his earlier disputes with the leaders of the current - was Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
. On his initiative, the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks set up a federal council to coordinate their activity in the Soviet. The leading figure of the Social Revolutionaries was Nikolai Avksentiev
Nikolai Dimitrovich Avksentyev (russian: Николай Дмитриевич Авксентьев; 28 November 1878, Penza – 24 March 1943, New York City) was a leading member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party (PSR). He was one of the 'He ...
, and all three groups cooperated smoothly in the Soviet. All three agreed to give the chairmanship to Georgy Khrustalyov-Nosar, a workers' lawyer who did not belong to any of the parties. Although he temporarily became the Soviet's figurehead, the measures were decided by the parties, mainly the Social Democratic representatives, and Trotsky in particular played a leading role. As editor of the Soviet's newspaper, Trotsky wrote most of its proclamations and motions.
October Manifesto and revolutionary weaknesses
In reaction to the strike and its aftermath, Nicholas II promulgated the October Manifesto on , promising the establishment of a constitution and the recognition of civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
and universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...
. Despite the euphoria in the capital following the imperial proclamation, which led to a huge demonstration involving workers and the middle classes, those in favour of maintaining the Tsarist autocracy
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...
still retained power.
In a speech to the crowd at the capital's university, Trotsky identified the weaknesses of the revolution that ultimately caused it to fail: despite the monarch's vacillations, the power of the autocracy remained in place. Despite revolutionary ferment in some units of the Imperial Russian Army - and especially in the Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...
- the bulk remained loyal to the Tsar. Rural Russia, the vast majority of the country, was still indifferent to the revolution, a largely urban phenomenon. The working classes' defence of the revolution was also undecided, and some of them were content with the tsar's concessions. While they longed for political freedoms, the proletariat also sought social reforms.
Activities of the Soviet
On , the strike from which the Soviet had emerged came to an end; the motion calling for an end to the strikes had been submitted by Trotsky two days earlier. While the Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs, Dmitri Trepov, was preparing the gendarmerie to disperse the rally at the funeral of the strike victims announced for two days later, and the secret police were organising a pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
, Trotsky advocated the cancellation of the march. The Soviet agreed to cancel the demonstration. Although frustrated by the need to avoid an armed clash with the authorities, the Soviet immediately ordered the formation of armed squads, whose first mission was to prevent the planned pogrom.
The Soviet encouraged the printing workers to oppose, with success, the maintenance of censorship - which contradicted the October promises to introduce freedom of the press - and to demand the eight-hour working day, which some workers succeeded in introducing on their own, with the backing of the Soviet. On , he held a solemn reception for the Polish delegation - consisting mainly of aristocrats and priests - which came to him to protest the proclamation of the state of siege
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in Congress Poland. The Soviet called for a general strike in solidarity with Poland and to protest the government's announcement that the Kronstadt
Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...
sailors who had taken part in the October strike would be tried in military courts. This second strike, however, had to end on , due to the exhaustion of part of the population; by then the government had partially relented and allowed the civilian trial of the sailors.
A few days later, and in the face of the Russian employers, who reacted to the forced introduction of the eight-hour day with factory closures that left 100,000 workers on the street, the Soviet had to give in again and abandon this demand. Despite the revolutionary impulse of part of the population, the Soviet was weak.
Crisis and suppression
The government succeeded in crushing attempts at military rebellion in some units. It also succeeded in restoring censorship of the press despite the protests of the Soviet. On , the authorities arrested the chairman of the Soviet and some of its leaders. The Socialist Revolutionaries expressed the need to react by attacking Tsarist ministers, while others preferred to call a new general strike. Trotsky then proposed to elect a new chairmanship and to continue preparations for an uprising against the government. A collegial chairmanship, including Trotsky himself, was subsequently elected. Preparations for the insurrection, however, were minimal, and the government took it upon itself to hinder them. Shortly afterwards, it sent an armed force to guard the building of the Free Economic Society, the new seat of the Soviet.
Unable to organise an armed uprising, the soviet opted for a financial boycott of the government and asked the population to stop paying taxes and demand payment in gold. The request precipitated the expected confrontation with the authorities. On the evening of , while the executive council was discussing the government's latest repressive measures - permission to provincial governors to proclaim a state of siege, censorship of the press which had published the petition for a boycott of the Soviet, plans to ban socialist parties, etc. - news of the imminent government assault arrived: the building was already surrounded. The Soviet decided to put up no resistance and continued to meet. After the police officer in charge of announcing the arrest order was admonished by Trotsky and left the meeting, those present were eventually arrested. The Soviet had survived for fifty days before its forced dissolution.
References
Bibliography
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*{{cite book, last1=Wolfson, first1=Robert, last2=Layer, first2=John, title=Years of change: European history, 1890-1990, url=https://archive.org/details/yearsofchangeeur0000wolf, url-access=registration, location=London, publisher=Hodder & Stoughton, edition=3rd, year=2001, orig-year=1978, isbn=0-340-77526-2, oclc=851993258
1905 disestablishments in the Russian Empire
1905 establishments in the Russian Empire
1905 Russian Revolution
History of Saint Petersburg
Organizations disestablished in 1905
Organizations established in 1905
Politics of the Russian Empire
Saint Petersburg Governorate